Shell Process handling orFocus

Fatman · May 3rd, 2004, 08:41 AM

Hi,
have the following code:
if Dir(App.Path & "\PPM.exe") = "" Then
MsgBox ("Multi Currency functionality not available")
Exit Sub
End If
Shell App.Path & "\PPM.exe", vbNormalFocus

Question:
How do I test whether the application PPM.EXE is running already and instead of starting a new instance of PPM.EXE rather set focus to the already running instance of PPM.EXE

owain · May 4th, 2004, 04:06 AM

The following code will only work if PPM.EXE is shown in the task bar. You must also know what the caption of the taskbar button should be.

Code:

On Error Resume Next

AppActivate "PPM.EXE" ' This should be the caption of the application
' If the application is not running then a run-time
' error 5 will be generated. Test for this error now
If Err.Number = 5 Then
    If Dir(App.Path & "\PPM.exe") = "" Then
        MsgBox ("Multi Currency functionality not available")
        Exit Sub
    Else
        Shell App.Path & "\PPM.exe", vbNormalFocus
    End If
Else
    ' PPM.EXE was already running and now has the focus
End If

There are other ways of doing this with API calls, however this is the simplest. The problem with it is that it will not work if the caption of PPM.EXE changes during it's execution.

Regards
Owain Williams

Fatman · May 4th, 2004, 04:38 AM

Thanks, works like a charm. Apart from the title of the application changing during the life of the Application, are there any other exceptions/issues one should be aware of?

owain · May 4th, 2004, 05:30 AM

The only other issue I can think of will be if the app has been minimized, as far as I know there is no easy way to restore the app's window from another program if the app has been minimized.

Regards
Owain Williams